Over the past few years
we have become hooked on sailing holidays, especially in a warmer
Mediterranean climate. The combine many of the facets that we
enjoy about holidays, ie, pure escapism, relaxing, warm weather,
good company, and most important of all, the ability to be able
to remove your clothes for the majority of the day when sailing!

When we first embarked
in such holidays, it was with some intrepidation, as neither
of us were experienced sailors. It was further complicated by
the fact that we did not fancy sharing a boat with others, so
it would mean just the two of us, sailing our own yacht. We were
encouraged to try it by talking to someone who had been on a
flotilla holiday . One of the good features about the company
was that they graded the sailing area by level of difficulty.
We were convinced to take the plunge, and booked a 27ft yacht
for one week sailing around the Saronic Gulf, just south of Athens
in Greece. The Saronic Gulf judged to be an 'easy' area, and
the 27ft yacht (called Kirki) was the smallest yacht available
and just right for two people. Our experience level was sufficiently
low for Sunsail to recommend that we went on a weekend sailing
course at one of their sailing centres.

The
sailing course took place on a brand new 37ft yacht. During the
course we learnt many invaluable bits of information, like what
to do if someone falls overboard, how to navigate, how to flush
the toilet, etc. Unfortunately, there was very little wind, so
from a sailing point of view, it was not much good! We did get
a light breeze for about an hour or so, and actually got the
yacht to sail. This of course made the yacht heal over slightly,
at which time we both looked at each other, and thought the same
thought 'just how far will this thing lean over before it sinks',
and 'which one of us should ask the skipper such a daft question'.

Then came the holiday,
we were introduced to Kirki, and were given a detailed brief
about how every aspect of how the yacht worked. The flotilla
skipper gave us detailed information about the route to our first
destination. The sky was blue with a light breeze blowing. However
it felt like a gale to us, and we were a bit cautious about attempting
to take Kirki out for a sail. We expressed our caution to the
skipper, but he convinced us that there would not be any problems.
He just told us to motor out into the centre of the big bay,
and then put up the sails as instructed.

Gulp, so that's
what we did. We arrived in the middle of the bay, decided which
way we would try and sail just supposing that we got the sails
up. Up went the main sail. There was lots of canvas flapping
in the breeze. Not to be deterred, we raised the genoa (jib),
which resulted in even more sail flapping in the breeze. At this
stage, you just have to go for it! So we pointed Kirki to the
right of the breeze and all of a sudden the sails filled, the
flapping stopped, and we were sailing, - pure magic!

From that point
on, we have not looked back.

September
1998 - Southern Ionian, Greece

The
following year, boosted by our confidence, we were sailing with
two good friends in the Southern Ionian Sea off the west coast
of Greece. Again, the holiday was organised by Sunsail, who supplied
us with a 32ft First 305 called Delos. Compared to Kirki, it
was like a greyhound, and would 'take off' in the lightest of
breezes. The weather was rather mixed with a selection of thunder
storms, strong winds and catabatic gusts. Compared to the previous
year, we did spend quite a bit of time 'hanging on' and trying
to keep the Delos vaguely upright. Again, we learnt an awful
lot, especially relating to 'reefing' and 'spilling wind'. Catabatic
gusts are local winds caused by hot air rising up the steep sided
mountains, which then becomes unstable and plummets downwards
at a vast rate of knots. The result on the ground (or sea) is
that the wind springs up from 3 knots to gale force in about
3 seconds. Fortunately you can see them coming as they whip up
the sea surface, sometimes reducing visibility dramatically.

June
1999 - Northern Ionian, Greece

For
our trip to the Northern Ionian, we decided to go on our own.
We do enjoy the independence to just the two of us being together
and being able to make our own decisions and being able to go
where we want when we want. But it did mean going back to a smaller
yacht, preferable in a sailing area where we had not been before.

There appears to
be some sort of affinity between sailing and being naked. In
the normal world you would rarely see a naked body unless you
were on a nude beach or at a sun club. However, the moment you
'set foot' on water the situation changes and the sight of a
nude body becomes a 'not uncommon' sight. I can't think of any
other activity that releases the inhibitions to cause people
to cast off their clothes. In retrospect, given the starting
point of being somewhere generally hot and sunny, and spending
the day in a swimming costume and doing a fair bit of swimming,
then many of the seeds of being naked are already sown. But never
the less the apparent ease at which people cast off their swimwear
under such circumstances does surprise me.

Our flotilla trip around
the Northern Ionian, was blessed with hot sunny weather, but
we did have some windy weather that was sufficiently strong to
keep us in port for a few days. When we were 'storm bound', our
flotilla was not all moored together, but was dispersed around
a small harbour among local fishing boats. We were moored next
to one of our other flotilla boats, but other than that we were
pinned in by deserted fishing boats. While I can just about survive
being 'covered' during the early morning and in the evening,
I found it a struggle to remain clothed during the day given
the bright warm sunshine. So I decided to ask our flotilla neighbours
if they objected to me sunning my self on the deck with no clothes
on. They said that they had no objection, so I was able to spend
the day in port topping up my all over tan.

As luck would have
it, at the following overnight stop, we were able to moor next
to the same couple, so I was able to remain nude for as long
as I wanted. The following night we were also next to the same
couple, but we were also next to a third boat. So the obvious
thing to do was to also ask them if they objected to my nudity.
Again, the answer was that they had no objection, so much to
my delight, I was able to remain naked for as long as I wanted.
The holiday progressed much along those lines, with me spending
most of the time nude, except that is when we were not in a taverna!

June
2000 - Dalmatian Islands, Croatia

In
June 2000 we embarked upon yet another two-week sailing holiday
in Croatia. They have flotillas that sail around the Dalmatian
Islands in the vicinity of Split and Duvbrovnic. The wind tends
to be a little stronger than in Greece, but to make up for the
slightly 'hairier' conditions, all the boats in the flotilla
had 'in-mast' reefing as well as the standard genoa roller reefing
system. For non-sailors, it means that you can get all the sails
down without leaving the cockpit. When you only have two people
on the boat, such a system makes life much more controllable,
especially when the wind starts to blow stronger than you might
chose! We finished up on a Gibsea 29 called Pelagruza, which
suited us to the ground. The flotilla that we chose spent the
two weeks sailing from Split to a marina just north of Dubrovnic.
During the following two weeks it
then sails north back to Split, so in either the northbound or
southbound trips, you get to see a good variety of the island
and Croatian life. Contrary to the general impression given in
the UK press, Croatia, the Serbian / Croatian war finished some
years ago, and even at its height, it never reached the Islands.
The Dalmatian Island area is very unspoilt and not commercialised.
Croatia offers lots of opportunities for naturism, apart from
sailing. Croatia
Naturally
, which describes naturim in Croatia is an excellent webpage
and well worth a read.

As with previous years, we were sailing
with a group of about 12 other yachts. Based on my experience
during the previous year where were not that bothered by my nudity,
I gradually built on that experience to try any maximise my time
spent nude, but not to shock or embarrass anybody unnecessarily.
When sailing, nudity was standard. Initially, my normal 'dressed'
attire in harbour was my pair of tiny Kiniki trunks. They hold all the dangle bits in,
and are a bit 'cheeky'. They are decent - just, but do not leave
too much to the imagination. Saying that, I flatly refuse to
go swimming in trunks of any description, even when moored in
harbour. The yacht had a bathing platform, so nude swimming was
quite possible by slipping the trunks off just before diving
into the water. It did mean getting out of the sea nude, but
a towel was always nearby, so it was quite easy to save the embarrassment
of others by putting the towel round me to dry off. My
problem was once my trunks were off, I was very reluctant to
put them back on! It was very pleasant sitting in the cockpit
with just the towel around me. The screening around the cockpit
was sufficient to let the towel slip to ensure that an 'all over
tan' was maintained. This then progressed to going 'down below'
to get a cold beer, starkers, and then returning to my towel
to consume the beer. As the holiday progressed I became braver
as it appeared that no one else on the flotilla objected to my
nudity. I declared the cockpit as an 'acceptable' nude area,
and became brave enough to wander around the cockpit without
the hindrance of clothing. As always, I took care not to be too
'in your face' with my naked body when confronting occupants
of the boats that might be moored next to us.

We
had a great holiday, and even won the regatta for our class of
boat. I was quite literally able to show them by backside as
we sailed past the opposition. At the end of every flotilla holiday
there is always a prize giving session for memorable events that
happened during the holiday. We won three prizes, a bottle of
wine for winning the regatta, a certificate for 'Public Display
of Absolute Bad Taste in Swimwear', and the banana man award
which consisted of a banana, inscribed 'Banana Man', I can't
think why! The prizes were awarded by the New Zealand skipper, who commented
that was very impressed with my 'fiddles', which it would appear
is the New Zealand expression for the 'dangly bits'. From a sailing
point of view, the most memorable event was the dismasting of
one of the Gibsea 302s during the regatta. Every flotilla acquires
a nick name, and and maybe it was no surprise when ours was called
'The Naked Motorboat Flotilla'.

June
2001 - Kornati Islands, Croatia

Sunset
over the Kornati Islands

In 2001 we returned
to Croatia and joined a flotilla which went north of Split to
explore the Konati Islands. These are a very beautiful part of
the Dalmatian Islands, so much so that the islands and the surrounding
seabed have been declared a national park. Again we hired a Gibsea
29. They are ideal for two people and have been modified to give
the added advantage of 'in mast furling'. This make taking all
the sails down very easy, a job which can be a 'handful' especially
if the wind is blowing.

Again, Croatia, in particular the islands,
was stunning, the weather was great and we had 'good winds' throughout
our two week holiday. The only real difference compared with
previous years was that we were with a different crowd of people
who made up the rest of our flotilla.

There was a slightly
unusual mix of people on this year's holiday compared with previous
years. Of the twelve boats, three were a group of close friends
who were reluctant to mix with the rest of the crowd. Four of
the boats where heavily into getting 'smashed' each night. One
boat just sailed off and did its 'own thing'. This left one boat,
which was full of delightful Germans who spoke good English,
and the remaining three boats. All the last four boats were all
quite content to have a great holiday, have a good sail, see
the sights and enjoy the local atmosphere, but would preferred
not to do it through an alcoholic haze. This is not a criticism
of anybody, 'each to their own', and enjoy what you are doing.
It did split the age group, with the 50+s comprising the last
four boats. We were a bit like 'Cardigan Country' boats, you
might only understand the expression if you who listen to Terry
Wogan on BBC Radio 2! (For those of you not familiar with this
expression, Cardigans are worn by boring sad old gits, but said
with an Irish sense of humour).

From the point
of view of a nudist on a 'textile' holiday, it was very much
a case of picking up from where I left off last year. In port,
the cockpit was declared a nudist zone, which was made possible
by strategically hanging towels over the side rails of the yacht.
Once out of port, then again, nudity was the norm and made no
pretence at 'covering up' at all. One great thing about Croatia
is that it is full of nudists! Chances are that if you see another
boat, then the crew will be naked. Similarly, anchored in bays
etc, a good half of the people on the boats will be naked. With
so many other nude bodies around, you do not even think about
the fact that the sight of my nude body might shock others.

It probably comes as not surprise that
we were in the felt more at home with the last group of four
boats. We would quite often finish up mooring up next to each
other, and would be quite happy sharing a table in the many restaurants
that we visited. They soon realised that I did not often wear
any clothes and it did not seem to cause them any embarrassment
at all.

On one evening,
the plan was for the flotilla to 'raft up' in the middle of a
deserted bay on one of the Kornati Islands, eat on board and
then have a 'party'. Three of the Cardigan Boats immediately
looked for alternatives! One went to a marina, and another boat
and ourselves found a delightful bay a mile or so further along
the coast, where we just dropped anchor and spent the night 'swinging'
on the anchor. A magnificent sunset was followed by a 'very'
windy night. Even though we were at anchor, the boat was tossed
about enough to tip over an empty bottle of wine!, but that is
another story! The following morning, we were still in the bay
roughly where we dropped anchor, the wind had dropped, the sun
was shining and the seagulls were waiting for their breakfast.
Due to lack of sleep, nobody was in a hurry to go anywhere.

The second 'Cardigan Boat' in the bay was
about 40 yards from us, and before long they were swimming. They
had obviously taken a leaf out of my book as they were skinny-dipping.
I could not resist the temptation, so I swam over to join them.
By the time I got to their boat they were out of the water drying
themselves off. I was invited aboard and offered a drink. All
three of us finished up sitting nude on deck enjoying the sun.
I obviously thanked them for the drink, and before long the conversation
got round to my 'all over tan'. It did not come as a surprise
when I told them that I was a nudist! Before long, by chance,
the third 'Cardigan Boat' arrived in the bay from the marina.
In no time at all they had dropped anchor close to us and were
also skinny-dipping. I never quite worked out whether I was the
catalyst for all the nudity, or whether it would have happened
anyway.

Eventually,
we all had to depart for the next evenings rendezvous with the
rest of the flotilla, which was another bay about five miles
away. It was called Opat Bay, it had two small outdoor tavernas,
a quay, some mooring buoys, and that is about it! It was absolutely
delightful! The taverna sold barbecued fish or barbecued fish!
So after a very nice barbecued fish meal, we staggered back to
out boat. We were just about to have a 'nude night-cap' glass
of malt whisky on deck, when the 'third cardigan boat' (who we
were moored next to) invited us across to join them for a 'wee
dram'. My response was that that we would be delighted, but could
I come as I was. No problem, was the response, so we joined them
on their boat clutching our bottle of malt. We had a couple of
glasses of whisky and talked about the stars, the bay earlier
in the day, skinny-dipping, and my nudity. It was all very relaxed
and pleasant.

The walk up to the top of the local hill
had been recommended as the view was superb. The following morning
we had a delayed start as the Bora was blowing rather strong,
so it was an ideal opportunity to explore the view. Some 50 yards
away from the boat, my shorts were off, and the rest of the return
walk was done nude. Although we walk reasonably fast, two young
ladies, who seemed totally unbothered that I was nude, overtook
us. The view from the top was worth the effort. On the way down
we met one of the German crew on his way up to the top. We chatted
for a few minutes and then carried on. That evening the flotilla
was back on the mainland, and by chance I was sitting in a bar
next to the German. He was quite happy to start a conversation
by saying "So you are a nudist?" (you will have to
imagine the German accent). We were both quite relaxed to discuss
the subject at length. You could not imagine an English person
starting a conversation in such a way, but his frankness was
refreshing.

The
following evening we were back on the islands. It was to be another
'party' in a large bay. So again the 'second Cardigan boat' and
ourselves party-pooped and found an alternative mooring. It turned
out to be a different corner of the same bay, but near a very
small taverna. A large old fort dominated the bay. We attached
ourselves too two mooring buoys, and rowed across to the taverna
in our inflatable dingys. It has to be one of the most basic
tavernas that I have ever been eaten at. The menu was fish or
pork, plus plenty of chips, salad and wine. It may have been
basic, but it was very tasty.

The following morning after we had deflated
our dingy, the crew from the other boat rowed past saying that
they were going to explore the fort, and would we care to join
them. We could not resist the opportunity, so we jumped into
their dingy, with me just clutching my shorts and camera. As
we tied up near the taverna, I did put my shorts on so as not
to frighten the locals. This lasted until we were out of sight
of the taverna, when the shorts were off again. The four of us
then walked to the fort on the hill, and nobody was at all bothered
that I was nude. When we got to the top we took loads of photos,
and to my surprise, as group photo was requested and to my delight
I was not requested to put my shorts on! The photograph of all
four of us was taken using an automatic timer on the camera.

All in all it was
a most enjoyable holiday doing all the things that I enjoy doing
in lovely weather and magnificent scenery. It will be difficult
to beat!!

July 2002 - Southern
Ionian, Greece

In the summer of 2002 we
returned to Greece for two weeks sailing around the Southern
Ionian. The flotilla consisted of the lead boat with 12 yachts
in the flotilla all about 30ft long. Our yacht was called Epidamnos.
Its no real surprise, but the pattern of the holiday was very
similar to previous years. One of the nice aspects of the Southern
Ionian is that the sailing distances are not that large, and
there was no rush to get to the destination port each day. This
meant that the days were quite relaxed. A daily routine son emerged,
with a 9.30am the group briefing, which was inevitably followed
by bacon and eggs and orange juice for breakfast. After a bit
of sight-seeing and a few photos, it was back to the boat for
the business of the day.

Start the engine,
cast off the ropes, hoist up the anchor and we were away. Once
out of the harbour, any remnants of clothing were removed, and
on with the sun-tan cream. Once we were a safe distance from
the harbour, the sails would be raised and the engine stopped.
Although its great to turn the engine off, it does power the
fridge, which in turn keeps the beers cold, so you have to be
sensible about how long you run the engine for!

Once sailing we would inevitably
be completely on our own and out of sight of any of the other
yachts. .Navigation was based on 'boy scout principles' using
the yacht's chart and a compass. This enabled us to point vaguely
towards our destination (wind direction permitting). On most
days we would be near our destination by about 3pm, so the task
was then to find a 'nice little bay' to drop anchor and have
a late lunch and a swim. Chances are that one or two other boats
in the flotilla would have had the same idea, so it was not uncommon
to meet up in some of theses bays. Needless to say, it soon became
apparent to the other boats that Epidamnos did not were any clothes.
There were no comments at the time, but it was always likely
to generate the occasional comment in the taverna the following
evening, for example 'I did not recognise you with any clothes
on!', to which the reply was ' any why not!' - it was all very
good light hearted banter.

Due to the relative
close proximity of the islands there is always the chance for
some 'free sailing', which means just going off and 'doing your
own thing'. Near the middle of the holiday we had two days 'free
so we were able to leave the flotilla and go and explore some
of the smaller islands on our own. As it turned out, two other
boats had the same literary as us, so the three of us set sail
in the same direction.

Kastos was the
destination for the first day. It was a bit of a 'white knuckle
ride', with a big swell and strong wind blowing us along from
behind. After about 4 hours we arrived just about in one piece
to find a delightful town, with a small harbour just big enough
for a dozen or so yachts. Out two companions
arrived before us, so they were able to help us tie up etc. We
spent a while on the quay, with the 6 of us swapping white knuckle
stories while supping cold beers. Unfortunately, arrival in port
meant that I had to cover up, but only with the minimum, ie,
my yellow Kinikis, which are wearing rather
lace thin. Although they cover my penis and a small amount of
my bum, they are so thin that they leave very little to the imagination,
showing every vein and fold of skin. They do not so much as cover,
but just colour the' bits' yellow Again, nobody appeared to object
as the crowd of us stood chatting and enjoying our beers. It
was not long before even that minimal amount of cover in such
hot sunny weather was starting to make me feel 'uncomfortable',
so I asked the girls on the other two boats if they would object
if I discreetly sat in the cockpit of Epidamnos with no clothes
on alt all. There was absolutely no objection, so that was the
'green light' for nude sunbathing in port. Even so, I tried to
keep it discreet as there were other people around, but this
was fairly easily achieved by the strategic positioning of towels
on the guard rail wires.

The following day
the six of us moved on to Palermos, the highlight of which was
the recommended 'New Mill' restaurant. There was no menu; the
owner just asked how long we wanted to stay, so that she could
'pace' the arrival of the courses. Before the first course, a
6 litre bottle of wine arrived, which we managed to consume with
ease. I lost count of the number of courses that were served
up, but that evening we ate some of the best food that we have
ever tried in Greece.

That set the pattern
for the rest of the holiday, nude at sea, and mostly nude in
port! After rejoining the rest of the flotilla, the group destinations
still consisted of some delightful bays and small ports where
the water was crystal clear and swimming from the back of the
boat was possible. Needless to say, there was no way that I was
going swimming in a costume, so I would just throw myself over
the side 'as nature intended'. There would inevitably be others
swimming around so it was a good opportunity to cool off and
have a chat. It appeared that they were unaware that I was starkers,
until that is, I emerged from the water back onto the boat, when
there would again be the odd light hearted comment to the effect
that 'Peter is skinny dipping again'.

At Spartahori, we had a
group meal which was washed down with the usual beer and wine.
As the evening wore on, conversation moved round to the subject
of Epidamnos's nude sailing. No one around the table objected
in the slightest. Two other couples admitted that they also sailed
nude on occasions, but were clearly more discreet about it than
Epidamnos. The flotilla 'engineer' who was a young New Zealander
thought that it sounded a great idea, but asked the question
bout what do you do when you see an attractive woman and your
'old man' pops up. The light hearted answer was that she would
probably take it as a compliment! However chances are that it
would not pop up, and if it did, it probably not last for long.

The general conversation
went on along the lines that when sailing, people tend not to
wear much clothing, so what difference does the removal of a
small swimming costume make especially if nobody else is around?
Linda (who was one of the Kastos 6), could not cope with that
view. She was firmly of the opinion that most bodies were unattractive
and should therefore be kept covered. Her age was 'on the right
side of 50', she was not thin, but certainly not fat. She always wore a one piece
swimming costume and did not sound too happy with her body. I
mentioned that we had seen a lot of Linda in her 'cossie', and
that by removing that layer of lycra, it would be unlikely to
reveal anything that we did not already know, especially as all
nude bodies are basically similar. The reply was 'No! No! No!,
I could not inflict such a sight on humanity!'.

Her views on the
nude male body were even more interesting. Again, she was of
the opinion that due to their size, most male bodies were best
kept covered. Her husband was quite thin, so I'm not sure how
he fitted into the equation. It was pointed out that male swimming
costumes were generally not very large, and did not hide anything
that she did not already know about. She admitted that she could
comfortably cope with a man in a 'cossie' and could talk to them
as if they were fully clothed. But a nude man would be completely
different. The focus of her attention would be entirely on one
thing, and it would not be his face. It was pointed out that
if they were nude in her company for long enough, then she would
get used to the situation, but she very much suspected that even
with time, her attention would not waver from the man's crutch
area. The obvious question was then asked as to how she coped
with the sight of my nudity, and that according to her definition,
shouldn't I remain 'covered'. Her reply was 'Oh no, you're different,
you're body is OK. I did not have the nerve to ask whether when
she spoke to the 'nude' me, whether she spoke to my face or my
penis!

Linda was clearly
happy enough with her lifestyle and opinions, and good for her,
at least she said what she thought and its always interesting
to get the views of 'textiles' on the subject of nudity and nudism.

At the group meal on the
last evening of the holiday there is traditionally an award ceremony
relating to events and happenings that have occurred over the
previous two weeks. We did not win the star prize, which went
to the boat that had a 'prop wrap', which seriously bent the
prop shaft and other bits. However, not surprisingly, Epidamnos
did win the 'Naked Sailing' award, much to the delight and amusement
of the rest of the flotilla. The award consisted of a plastic
'g' string as shown in the photo, but it was far too small to
cover bits that it was intended to cover. And just before you
ask, no I did not try it on in front of the rest of the flotilla!

During the conversation
that followed, the 'skipper' told us a story that he had heard
about one of the Jaguar 27 flotillas on a previous year. It appears
that on one flotilla, some of the yachts were hired by a group
of nudists. This did not cause any undue problems, but as the
holiday progressed, the became so relaxed about their nudity
that they were arriving in port, still nude, again that's not
necessarily a big deal, but when attempting to help moor the
boat 'bows to', he did draw the line at being thrown the mooring
lines by a large nude lady. On subsequent occasions, when giving
instructions over the VHF radio on how to moor and what lines
and fenders to have ready, he also added, 'and put some clothes
on!' I don't think that he was too bothered about it, but he
did have to consider the Greek locals!

Once again, a flotilla sailing holiday produced two weeks of
relaxed naked escapism, together with lots of memorable moments
and delightful social company.

July 2003 - Northern
Ionian, Greece

Our main summer
holiday in 2003 took on the same form as previous years, ie,
flotilla sailing somewhere hot! We decided on the Northern Ionian
again. That's the bit around Corfu on the western side of Greece.
The sailing area includes the islands of Corfu, Paxos and Anti-Paxos,
plus the adjacent Greek mainland. Parts of Corfu are busy, but
they are easy to avoid, and otherwise the area is very unspoilt
with good sailing, pretty bays and unspoilt harbours.

A school of dolphins swam past just north of
Corfu Town

Needless to say,
the format of the holiday as far as I was concerned, was to turn
the 'textile' holiday into as much as a 'nudist' holiday as reasonably
possible! As in previous years, once out of harbour, then nudity
is no problem, so the only issue is how to maximise the 'nude
time' when in harbour.

The water in many
of the harbours was clean enough for swimming. Our flotilla invariably
moored 'bows to', which meant that that there was no problem
swimming from the bathing platform on the back of the boat, the
only problem was could I get away with swimming without a cossie.

In previous years,
when necessary, I have worn my very old and very thin Kinik cossie,
but they are starting to look their age, with little elasticity
and they are starting to develop the odd hole! So reluctantly
they have been pensioned off and replaced by a pair of red 'micro
bathers', which just about cover all the essential bits eg, my
penis and parts of my bum. There are times when even I admit
that it is appropriate to cover up, for example, when arriving
or departing from harbour. However, as far as I was concerned,
wearing trunks while swimming was not an option! So it was just
a case of seeing how others in the flotilla reacted to my skinny
dipping.

Invariably, arrival at a port required
lots of activity, with much rope pulling and knot tying etc.
This would be done in my red cossie. It would then be time for
a quick beer and a swim, so I would go to the back of the boat,
slip out of my cossie, followed by a loud splash! Other than
the splash, nothing attracted anybodies attention. After the
swim I would sit on the back of the boat or the bathing platform
to 'dry off' in the sun unhindered by a wet cossie. For trips
to the fridge to top up my beer, I just put a towel around myself,
and then went back to more sunning and drying off at the back
of the boat.

Not wishing to
attract attention to my self, generally I would just sit there
soaking up the sun's rays and the beer. On one occasion fairly
early on in the holiday, we were moored next to one the other
flotilla yachts. It was crewed by a husband and wife, the wife
being very 'chatty'. She went on and on talking about everything
under the sun. Initially it was my wife who was involved in the
conversation from our side, but as it progressed, I found myself
being drawn in to the conversation. Sitting where I was, the
conversation was effectively going on behind me, but as I became
more involved, I found myself gradually turning so that I could
make my contribution.

I'm sure that it must have been obvious
to them that I was sitting at the back of the boat with no clothes
on, but as I got drawn into the conversation my total lack of
clothing was there for all to see. Although, I was enjoying the
conversation, it was going on a bit and I was half hoping that
the sight of my penis might have cut the conversation short.
But not at all, my nudity had no effect on the conversation at
all!

I was surprised
that my new red mini cossie did not attract any comments. I started
off thinking that they might cause the odd comment, so tended
to only wear them on the boat, but as time went
by I became bolder and increasingly wore them on the quay side.
On arrival in port on the last day, showers were available at
a tavern several hundred yards walk away. Once we had arrived
had moored up and after a few beers, we decide that it was time
for a shower. The weather was stinking hot, I was covered in
sun-tan cream, so it seemed crazy to wear anything other than
my red cossie on our trip to the shower. So clad in just my cossie
and a towel over my shoulders, we walked over to the taverna
and the shower. I've no idea what the locals thought, but I did
not detect any gasps of horror!

To sum up, it was
a most enjoyable holiday. I gained the usual all over tan, we
met some nice people, had some good sailing, ate some good food
and drunk some good wine.

During our days
sailing, the lead boat came close enough to be aware that both
of us were sailing 'as nature intended', so when it came to the
awards ceremony on the last evening, it came as no surprise when
were both awarded the Adam and Eve prize complete with fig leaves
attached to an impromptu 'g' string. The lead crew did say that
they wanted to see us wearing them, but I decided to spare the
blushes of the taverna owner, and kept the fashion parade for
the following morning.

I was chatting
with the flotilla engineer about our nude exploits and asked
him just how frequent nude sailing was on these holidays. To
his knowledge, we were the first this year, but then it was fairly
early in the season.

July 2004 - Central
Dalmation Islands, Croatia

June 2004 and we returned to the central
part of Croatia. Needless to say I did my best to turn a textile
holiday into a nudist holiday. We had a 32 foot yacht. There
were 12 other identical boats in the flotilla, with a lead boat
just to make sure that we all knew where we were going.

One of the great things about a sailing holiday is that you virtually
live outdoors for the whole 2 weeks, from drinking your first
cup of tea on deck in the morning, to the last 'night cap' glass
of whisky at night under the stars. The most I wore was during
the evening meal when it was tee shirt, short shorts, and flip
flops. On the boat in port I wore just my skimpy adjustable cossie.
Once sailing then it was as nature intended!

An
early morning cup of tea

We
are heading for one of those islands!

Although the boats do not necessarily sail that close to each
other, our paths did cross when tacking, or when anchored in
bays for lunch. So it was not long before it became common knowledge
that our boat was a naturist. One of my rules on these holidays
is not to get my swimming cossie wet, so that all swimming became
'natural'. Lunch time dips in our own private bays was no problem
as I could just throw myself off the back of the yacht. Many
of the harbours we stopped at were clean enough to swim in, so
skinny dipping became a frequent occurrence.

Skinny
dipping off the back of the boat

Self
steer mechanism

A group of us from
five boats became good friends and we would take it in turn to
supply evening aperitifs. On about the fourth evening I invited
everybody onto our boat, and joking said that it would of course
be 'clothes optional'. There were jokes about turning up wearing
their best thongs. In the event, everybody turned up in shorts
and tee shirts (as normal). Maggie was not too happy about me
serving drinks in my birthday suit, so although I served a few
as nature intended, I got dressed to keep Maggie happy.

A few days later the same five boats were
moored side to side on to a buoy in a pretty bay on an island
called Mljet. Aperitifs were going to be boat next door. I was
sitting on our deck (nude) with a beer. Maggie was having a shower,
when the others started to arrive on the boat next door. 'Peter,
aren't you going to join us' was the call, followed by 'it is
clothes optional'. That was all the invite that I needed, so
I jumped onto their boat, naked, except for the beer that I was
clutching.

I was plied with more beer and wine, and everybody took my nude
body in their stride. After a while Maggie joined us, and she
was also very relaxed about it. The conversation could not escape
the fact that I was naked, and ranged from comments like 'I wish
that I had the nerve and courage to go nude' to a comment from
a fifteen year old teenager from one of the boats to the effect
that 'she could not conceive the idea of being naked in public'.
I mentioned that she was wearing a sight low cut tee shirt, showing
lots of cleavage, she was also pointing he belly button at me,
and that the shorts really did not leave much to the imagination.
Also everybody had seen her in her lycra swim suit, so everybody
would have every good idea of what she looked like nude, so what
was all her concern about? I suspect that her views will moderate
when she grows up and gets a boy friend! After the aperitifs,
we were ferried over to a small taverna in a rubber dingy. Just
before the dingy arrived, one of the crowd did say 'Peter, I
do hope that you are going to put some clothes before we go to
the taverna!

Dressed
and ready for the taverna in the distance

Other than in the evenings when I wore a tee shirt and shorts,
when I was not nude, I lived in my skimpy cossie. I had fun in
the cossie, as you could play games with it in an attempt at
maintain maximum exposure. When prating around on deck with ropes
etc, the curtain effect on the cossie would inevitably increase
the degree of skimpiness, as the back would ride up the
cheeks of my bum. When sitting on deck and not nude, the front
of the cossie can be manipulated so that my penis and balls get
dragged between my legs, so as not to interrupt the all over
tan. After the first few days I plucked up courage to attend
morning briefings wearing only my mini cossie, but they were
worn in 'modest' mode. I've no idea what everybody else made
of it all, but I had no complaints, and I really enjoyed myself!

One novel story occurred one evening when I was on deck in my
mini cossie tidying up some ropes, a Croatian woman who was walking
past the boat asked in pigeon English, 'How ????'. I did not
fully understand her, but she was clearly requesting some information
about measurement. From her hand gestures, I thought that she
wanted to know deep the water was, so I replied "about 2
metres". "No" she said, "How large".
I realised that she was not talking about the depth, but a request
about length. I had this sudden dilemma. I did not know whether
she meant the length of the boat, or something else that was
fairly prominent. The answer she wanted was either 32 feet or
6 inches, depending on what the object of her question really
was. So I replied "32 feet". "I though so"
she said. She went away happy, but the recollection made for
a good laugh at that evenings aperitifs.

Rounding
up dolphins. Guess who the figurehead is!

On the final evening
there is the usual prize giving party. As usual my prize revolved
around my lack of attire, as I won the 'Golden Balls' prize.
I'm not sure if the prize related to the actual colour of my
balls, or the colour of my minimal cossie!

Croatia 2005

In June 2005 we
did what on the face of it was a repeat version of our 2004 holiday
sailing around the Croatian islands near Split. Again, we were
part of a flotilla and needless to say, I did my best to convert
if from a textile holiday into a nudist holiday.

The
fleet (our boat has the red 'addicks' flag)

The ground rules
were the same as previous years:

I would not intentionally
upset anybody with my nudity, and when necessary I would cover
the essential bits. Saying that, the cover would only be minimal;
Unless
absolutely necessary, I would only swim nude;
Once
out of port, nudity would be the norm;
Even
in port I would try and be nude as much as possible.

When sailing the only problem is to ensure
that you have enough sun tan cream on. In port a nude, or near
nude lifestyle is however possible.

The main form of
cover up were my tan coloured mini cossie with adjustable front
and back. With the adjustment in the fully covered position they
are almost respectable, but movement around the boat does cause
them to 'ride up' so it is quite easy to let them settle into
virtually what ever position you want, so you can control just
how much bum or pubic area you expose to the sun.

The yachts have
a reasonably deep cockpit, and by hanging bath towels on the
protective wires around the edge of the boat, it is possible
to create an area in the cockpit that is sufficiently secluded
from any neighbouring boats. This means that you are screened
from people sitting in the cockpit of boats moored alongside
and it is possible to work on the all over tan. Invariably we
always moored 'bows to', which means the pointy bit of the boat
faces the quay, so that you have a degree of privacy from people
walking along the quay.

The flotilla skipper
defines the destination point each day, but it is up to you how
you get there (navigate), and which bays you stop in for lunch.
When sailing you might occasionally sail close to other boats
in the flotilla, but generally you are on your own. However,
after a few days, most other flotilla members become aware that
our boat was 'naturist'.

One of the other flotilla boats had a windsurfer
as an optional extra. The couple on the boat were very friendly
and I mentioned that I had done some windsurfing many years ago
and actually had passed the basic RYA windsurfing qualification.

On about our fourth
day out we finished up in a lovely bay on a virtually deserted
island, which had one restaurant, which we happened to be moored
next to! Swimming from the back of the boats was very much the
obvious thing to do, so my mini cossie was off in a flash and
I threw myself into the water. I spent a while chatting with
others in the water and on other boats. I've no idea if they
knew if I was nude of not. I did not make an issue of it but
just behaved normally.

While swimming
around, I got chatting to the folks from the boat with the wind
surfer. As the conversation developed, they asked if I wanted
a go on the windsurfer. My immediate reaction was "yes please".
However, as I was naked and getting up on the windsurfer would
have meant exposing everything to the assembled flotilla. So
my dilemma was threefold:

Say no;
Say
yes, but go back to our boat to get my cossie; or
Say
yes, and jump up on the board.
There was no way that I was going to say no, and it just seemed
wrong to put my cossie on. So I did a bit of a compromise, said
'yes' but towed the board a semi respectable distance away from
the other boats. Even so, it was going to be totally obvious
that I was nude, but was giving the others half a chance to 'look
away'.

At about 30 yards
away from the boats I decided that was quite far enough and started
my attempt to surf. Fortunately the breeze was gentile and after
a few false starts, managed to get on the board with the sail
up and underway. It was great. The concentration required to
get the thing up and moving, made me totally forget about the
situation and the audience. It was only after a minute of so
of sailing, when I could start to relax a little, that I could
start to appreciate that I was nude windsurfing, in this beautiful
bay, in full view of the rest of the flotilla.

I was not so coy
about returning the windsurfer, and just sailed up to the back
of the boat, dropped the sail and jumped into the water. My nude
venture received no comment at the time, the others just continued
swimming and chatting as normal. Subsequently I did here people
joking that they 'did not recognise me with my clothes on', so
I was obviously noticed, but with minimal reaction.

Time
for a beer in the marina near Hvar

At the end of each
days sailing the flotilla hostess would visit each boat to give
details about our new destination. They take privacy very importantly,
and generally ask permission before jumping onto a boat. That
gave me a chance to slip my cossie on before she arrived. On
one occasion, she was on the neighbouring boat, and rather than
jump on the boat from the quayside via the bows, she just skipped
over the side wires onto our boat. I was laying face down tanning
my bum as she arrived. It did not cause me a problem as I just
sat up and threw a towel over my dangly bits.

She was in no rush and was happy to chat
for ages about anything relevant. Nudity and nudism was a topic
that we chatted about. She came from New Zealand, where historically
attitudes are more Victorian than in UK and Europe, but she said
that her and her husband (the skipper) had skinny dipped together,
so she was not embarrassed by the sight of a naked body. We mentioned
that nudism was very popular in Croatia and mentioned some of
the nude swimming beaches / areas that we had sailed past, but
she had been oblivious to them, but would keep a better look
out in future!

A particularly
nice feature on this year's holiday was that the lead boat took
photos of all the boats while we were sailing along. One morning,
we were sailing along as the lead boat motored past. The hostess
was busy with the camera! Initially I sat down, but then thought
better of it and stood up and waved to the camera. "Great!"
she shouted, "I'll make sure you get a copy of that one".

During the middle weekend of our holiday
we did have some stormy weather and were storm bound for two
days in a place called Vela Luka on the island of Korcula. This
did give us the opportunity to explore some of the local islands.
There was a ferry that took people to the 'Magic Island', so
we could not resist it. It was about 30 mins ride away and was
actually one of the islands that we sailed past on our way to
Vela Lika with a very distinctive light house. We had no idea
what was on the island, but on arrival there was a restaurant
(selling beers) and a map showing about 5 beaches. One of the
beaches was signed FKK, so it was an easy decision as to which
beach to go to!

After 14 splendid
days sailing and virtually living nude as we progressed around
the islands, we all arrived at out final destination harbour.
To make cleaning and maintaining the boats easier, this was the
only occasion that the boats were moored 'stern to'. This meant
that all the cockpits were facing the quay, so there was no privacy
from promenaders on the quayside. From previous years this was
fully anticipated. As the boat needed a thorough clean we would
be busy with the bucket and brush so there would be little time
for sitting in the sun.

Once we were moored
the hostess came up to us and said that she had received a complaint
about my nudity from one of the other flotilla members. My first
immediate reaction was to inquire why it had been left to the
last day to say anything. I did not go out of my way to offend
anybody and if I had known who it was then I would have taken
care not to upset them. Anyway, the request was now irrelevant
as the 'stern to' mooring did not allow any privacy. The hostess
had asked the person who complained to speak to me personally,
but they did not want to, and requested that the hostess spoke
on their behalf! The whole conversation left me totally confused.
Why leave it so long to mention it, and if you feel so strong
about it, why not mention it to me direct?

At our farewell
evening meal, we were sitting next to the lead crew. After a
few beers and glasses of wine, I could not resist asking the
question 'who was it who objected'? The hostess refused to tell
me! The skipper backed her up but thought that the situation
was ridiculous as we were all adults and he could not see that
any harm had been done.